The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-04-28
Welded IN DEATH.
CHAPTER FROM THE STORY OF
ESTON'S COMMANDMENT.

Ero1Il the Philadelphia Press.
,orose the level tongue of land from
,-;,, tho hattle-scarred, earthquake shaken
a;4,, Of Charleston looks eastward stretch
Nv. .t'' ,,.oss-covered mounds which are all that
y Ioft Of the mighty Notifications that Lee
- Roauregard built and armed nearly a
',uorter of a century ago, Approaching the
to,l, tanned by the lazy wavelcts of the
nsbIov those traces Of the defensive works
- +,ot era run northward Of a peaceful
h,rving ground in which the dropping
i,oncbes of the magnolia and palmetto trees
s,,.aon the tops of the stones that record the
comes of men and women who have found
,oc+ beneath that sod i'll the generations that
have passed since the stalwart and splendid
u,cuenot pilgrims who had escaped Car
,.;o,o,s massacre established the city and the
state perpetual peace dwells upon the
80. the fragrance of roses and magnolias
sPprfn,mes the atmosphere; the remnants of
tIo fo,.ts have been smoothed by the indom-
itahle hand of time into lifting Sembance
18th the scene: it is difficult even to find
mon the veterans of the arboreal growth
tie scars of the shot and shell that once
whistled and screamed from the great guns
nf Dobloren's monitors and GimoreS bat
+a,.ioc over this lovely Gods Acre of the
Southern land. and between the LEAKAGE of
a. eturdv trees the visitor catches gllmpSeS
1lt9 fo"1ouS old St Mchaels spire and all the
b,oad and beautiful vista of river, city and
sea that extends to the horizon OF the At
lantic It is the ancient and venerable GEM
eterv of Christ Church parish around
which Beauregard drew his military lines of
Recommendation, and so brought the rude
ond noisy hustle of war into intrusion upon
the everlasting sleep of South Carolinians
Who had preached notification and talked
states rights FIVE iustrums before speech
became powder and shot and bloodshed
The westering sun bathes in golden glory
/ one of the most prominent monuments IN
this CITY of the dead-7a slender ana graceful
marble shaft browning a turfed hlllock that
from, time to time blooms with the profit
rate beauty of flowers that bespeals assid
hons and indefatigable care for the memory
Of the tenant of the tomb. On the face that
is turned toward the sunset is the inscrip-
ton:
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. '.'.'''' ''''''''''.'%
MARGARET PICKENS De ROCHELLE. :
DEC. "A, 1864.
When South Carolina seeded from the
Union and lit the fires of civil war her Gov
ernor was Francis w. Plckens, member of
the slave-holding aristocracy that boosted OF
Il its blue blood, and, like the feudal system
n
n yelo9ed noble and admirable types of men
and women. To that rank Gov. Pickens
was entitled, and of all the fair and lovable
women to whom his distinguished family
i had given birth no one was Sweeter or more
beautiful than the daughter who, when Maj.
Anderson lowered the flag on Sumter, was
q budding into a charming womanhood. 1t
hes been truly said that the war was pro-
logged by the courage and peTsiStency with
which the women of the South imbued the
men. No history has ever adequately told
tie sacrifices that they made, the SufferingS
tat they patiently endured to cheer and
prompt the soldiers and sailors who served
lnder the banner of the lost cause. No
where between the Potomac and the Mex
can Gulf was their spirit of answering de-
votion more manifest and active than in the
capital of the keystone State of the South
ern Confederacy; and there was no patriotic
project mooted in which women could share
10 which Margaret Pickens did not con-
tribute.
TYPE OF SOUTHERN BEAUTY.
Il Turning back to the Charleston newspa-
pers Of the war epoch, her name is found
a hundred times upon their worn and fading
pages In 1862 the women of the city turned
their jewelry, their diamonds-gems that
had come down to them from their Hugue-
not and English ancestors--their silver plate
and innumerable articles of 'bric-a-brac-
into the money that paid for the ironclad
shlp-ot-war Palmetto State, that on January
81 1868, sunk the United States gunboat
s. Mercedita in battle in Charleston harbOr.
In the enterprise of raising the construction
y fund Margaret Pickens was proficient and
ultlring. She stripped herself of her jew
elly, and she figured in a leading capacity
at the fair or bazar at which the women
sold their treasures that the 'ladies' gun
boat might be built. A bright young Eng
AShnlan who had come into Charleston as
an officer of one of the blockade runners saw
her on that occasion and worshiped her
through the medium of letter to a friend
n In Liverpool, that found its way into the
columns of the Liverpool Mercury. He
wrote:
Il have seen tonight the lovelest girl that
my eyes ever gazed upon, and the sight
81 Oh her was worth the guinea of a sailors
wages that paid for the queer little flower
received from her hand and that is lying
before me as | write. The picture of her
lace which hold in memory would make
NE Wiling at any time to take the chances
q being caught or shot to pieces by the
Yankees III lodging the blockade. She is
tather tall, clean built as a Shanghai clipper,
her eyes and hair are nut-brown and her
girls"
FOR nineteen months, beginning with
49, AOoo, NHdIeSUOn suffered Lne most
prolonged and tremendous bombardment
ever inflicted upon an American city. All the
m%er part OF the town was swept by day
sld night by Gilmore's 300 FOUNDER shells and
wTSaken by its population The roar of the
anntillery fire upon Fort Sumter and the
oner defensive works was well nigh in
TcSSant, while the battles upon Morris
NttiId Tor the possession of Fort Wagner
Ila battery Gregg, the frequent sl1irmisheS
S So the accommodating boat parties, the
assignments Of the fleets and such torpedo
oAleuluons as that which blew up the Fed
adl Runboat Housatonic left few uneventful
%ys IN the history of the long and bloody
az The hospitals of the city overlooked
NUN wounded men, the care of whom was
a@rEely ntrusted TO an organization of vol
U wlCeer nurses, of which Miss Pickens was q
LOVE IN A HOSPITAL.
10 40 her charge fell, in the autumn of 1864,
T T,suI' Andre de Rochelle, of the First South
os iDliha regiment of artillery, a command
S "hlch Beauregard said that it had not it,
baPgilor IN any army in the world It nod
Il fS ,u foit Sumter during the terrific fire
s Suot crumbled the great stone walls into
st"siIlehts, and piece Of bursting shell had
se uck re Rochelle down with what was
nonllngly mortal wound lie was re.
Sneu To hospital under the direction OF
a,is Jeffrey, of the Confederate service
| N.tiA LOT the many dave 10, ,,.hs,t. L.. A.,